Bai Juyi

Bai Juyi
Portrait of Bai Juyi by Chen Hongshou
Born	772 Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
Died	846 Xiangshan Temple, Longmen (Luoyang), Henan, China
Occupation	Poet, Government official
Chinese name
Chinese	白居易
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bái Jūyì (col.) Bó Jūyì (lit.) Wade–Giles Pai2 Chü1-i4 (col.) Po2 Chü1-i4 (lit.) IPA [pǎi̯ tɕý.î] (col.) [pu̯ǒ tɕý.î]  (lit.) Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Baahk Gēui-yihk Jyutping Baak6 Geoi1-jik6 Southern Min Tâi-lô Pe̍h Ku-ia̍h (col.) Pi̍k Ku-i̍k (lit.) Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Bɐk Kjwo-jieC
Korean name
Hangul	백거이
Transcriptions McCune–Reischauer Bak Geo-i
Japanese name
Hiragana	はくきょい
Transcriptions Romanization Haku Kyo-i

Bai Juyi (also Bo Juyi or Po Chü-i; Chinese: 白居易; 772–846) was a renowned Chinese poet and Tang dynasty government official. Many of his poems concern his career or observations made about everyday life, including as governor of three different provinces. Burton Watson says of Bai Juyi: "he worked to develop a style that was simple and easy to understand, and posterity has requited his efforts by making him one of the most well-loved and widely read of all Chinese poets, both in his native land and in the other countries of the East that participate in the appreciation of Chinese culture. He is also, thanks to the translations and biographical studies by Arthur Waley, one of the most accessible to English readers". Bai was also influential in the historical development of Japanese literature. His younger brother Bai Xingjian was a short story writer.

Bai Juyi often referred to himself in life as Letian (Wade-Giles: Lo-t'ien), roughly the equivalent of "happy-go-lucky". Later in life, he referred to himself as the Hermit of Xiangshan.

Bai Juyi lived during the Middle Tang period. This was a period of rebuilding and recovery for the Tang Empire, following the An Lushan Rebellion, and following the poetically flourishing era famous for Li Bai (701－762), Wang Wei (701－761), and Du Fu (712－770). Bai Juyi lived through the reigns of eight or nine emperors, being born in the Dali regnal era (766-779) of Emperor Daizong of Tang. He had a long and successful career both as a government official and a poet, although these two facets of his career seemed to have come in conflict with each other at certain points. Bai Juyi was also a devoted Chan Buddhist.

Bai Juyi was born in 772 in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which was then a few miles from location of the modern city, although he was in Zhengyang, Henan for most of his childhood. His family was poor but scholarly, his father being an Assistant Department Magistrate of the second-class. At the age of ten he was sent away from his family to avoid a war that broke out in the north of China, and went to live with relatives in the area known as Jiangnan, more specifically Xuzhou.